Car wreck alters Williams' outlook

Sunday

Jul 5, 2009 at 12:01 AM

Holly Williams had one of those days recently. Her iPhone fell in the toilet, her air conditioner broke and her thermostat soared.

But Williams kept her cool.

"Three years ago that would have been a big issue," said the 28-year-old singer-songwriter, whose new CD, "Here With Me," was released this month. "It was 85 at my house and I'm thinking, 'Hey, you know what? I still have my health.'"

Williams' perspective changed after she and her older sister, Hilary, were nearly killed in a car crash near Memphis in 2006.

Headed to their grandfather's funeral in Mississippi, her sister was driving, and only a mile before the wreck she told Holly to put on her seat belt. Holly said it saved her life.

About all she remembers is Hilary looking down to change the song on her iPod and the car veering into some gravel on the side of the road. The wreck crushed Holly's right arm -- she couldn't play guitar for five months.

"It made me appreciate the simple things, like taking a shower," she said of her recovery. "Professionally, my work ethic changed. My songwriting became more serious."

Her new CD includes a song inspired by the accident, "Without Jesus Here With Me," in which she sings, "I don't know why I'm still here, or why I lived that Wednesday morn'."

"Here With Me" is the second CD for Williams, the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and the granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr. Growing up, she was largely sheltered from her father's well-documented rowdy life on the road.

She was even less connected to her late grandfather's legacy, even though he is enshrined in both the country and rock halls of fame.

"My dad was so famous that, for me, it overshadowed Hank Sr.'s legacy," said Williams, whose half brother is alt-country singer/punk rocker Hank Williams III. "I knew my grandfather was a singer and I knew he wrote a couple of songs."

It wasn't until she discovered singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan that she realized the full extent of his influence.

"Even Stevie Wonder said he was influenced by my grandfather," she said.

"I met him and he mentioned Hank Sr. So I was really brought back to Hank Williams' music. It turned out artists who were influencing me were influenced by my grandfather."

Her parents divorced when she was only 3, leaving her mother, Becky, to raise her and her sister (Williams is quick to credit her father as a good dad who was involved).

She said it was her mother -- to whom she pays tribute on the new CD with the song "Mama" -- who had the most musical influence on her.

"She was more key becausemy dad did not play music around the house at all," she recalled, explaining he wanted to be dad at home, not a performer.

"He never played songs or played guitar, and my mom every night of my entire life played piano. She'd sit down every night and sing and play piano for two hours."

The album has more of a country feel than her first collection, "The Ones We Never Knew." Williams isn't sure why. But it's apparent enough that Universal Music Nashville President Luke Lewis geared promotion toward mainstream country radio instead of an alternative format.

The first single, "Keep the Change," peaked at No. 48. "Mama" was recently released as the second single.

"It's having a really difficult time getting through the gatekeepers at country radio," Lewis said of the CD. "Thankfully, most critics have been really kind to it."

Williams, who also owns a designer clothing store in Nashville, says she doesn't feel pressure to try to match her family's success. Her goals are more modest.

"I seriously doubt I'll ever be headlining an arena," she said.

"My goal is to be playing the Ryman (Auditorium) when I'm 50 with a guitar and piano like Jackson Browne and have people requesting my songs and knowing every lyric."

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.